116 MASS. EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETIN 192. 



5. Water Storage. 



Storing cranberries in water has been recommended often as a way to 

 keep them a long time. When thus stored they soon soften from smother- 

 ing.^ 



Table 7 describes several tests in which water storage in stoppered 

 bottles was compared with dry storage in tight and in ventilated con- 

 tainers. All the Early Black fruit stored in water softened, wliile only a 

 part of that stored dry did so. The Howes berries softened less in water 

 than did the Early Black, probably partly because they were picked 

 later, and, as compared with the first two lots, partly because they were 

 stored later, the temperature of the screenliouse basement and therefore 

 that of the water being lower. The berries of the third Early Black lot 

 were probably partly smothered in ordinary storage before they were 

 put in the water. The berries used in the tests were all hand-sorted. 



The fruit softened by water storage had much the same peculiar char- 

 acter, described by Dr. Shear and his associates, ^ that cranberries 

 smothered in dry storage have. They lacked the bitter taste of the fruit 

 smothered dry, however, and were therefore suitable for cooking when 

 taken from the water. Among the berries stored dry, much more soften- 

 ing occurred in the tight containers than in the open ones. This result 

 supports conclusions given in previous reports. 



The berries used in the first two series of these tests were only partly 

 colored when stored. Those put in shipping crates were subject to the 

 same temperatures, and were less exposed to the light than those without 

 ventilation, but they colored up very much during the storage, while the 

 color of the others changed little. This shows that ventilation is essential 

 to the coloring of berries picked green. Therefore green or partly col- 

 ored fruit in particular, should be stored and shipped in ventilated con- 

 tainers. 



Table 8 describes water storage experiments with Dill ^ cranberries in 

 three different degrees of maturity. Most of the berries in all the different 

 lots softened in the water, somewhat more spoilage occurring among the 

 green than among the ripe fruit. 



Unpicked Howes berries at the station bog were kept from freezing 

 with planks and leaves until the bog was winter-flowed on Dec. 13, 1917. 

 Some of this fruit was examined January 1 through a hole cut in the ice, 

 and was then found fresh and crisp. The berries were picked by hand 

 April 1, 1918, before the water was let off, and were all soft then. The 

 writer cut some of them open and found their flesh reddened throughout, 

 their appearance being that of smothered berries. 



1 This name was given by Dr. Shear and his associates to the spoilage of cranberries caused 

 by insufficient ventilation. See Bui. No. 714, U. S. Dept. Agr., August, 1918, p. 4. 



2 Bui. No. 180, Mass. Agr. Expt. Sta., 1917, p. 237. 



' This variety is grown solely by Mr. Bion Wing of Philips, Me. 



